Appropriate farm mechanization for enhancing employment generation in Manipur : A holistic approach
- Part 2 -
Yumnam Jakender, RK Tiwari, SK Chauhan *
Pedal operated thresher :
It consists of wire-loop type
threshing cylinder operated by foot pedal or motor. It is
suitable for threshing rice. It saves 20 per cent labour and 40
per cent operating time as compared to conventional method
of hand beating on a wooden platform. It costs Rs. 5500 and
its cost of operation is Rs. 28/q.
Manual fruit harvester:
A light weight manual fruit
harvester was developed for harvesting of small fruits like
peach, pear and plum in hilly areas. The fruit harvester was
fitted with cutting blade, net type fruit holder and handle made
of aluminium pipe of length 2.86 m. The cutting blade was
semi-circular in shape and was actuated by rope fitted to the
harvester.
The weight of the harvester was 0.6 kg. The net
type fruit holder was fitted with cloth bag of approximately
2 kg fruit capacity. The user can use it for longer duration due
to less weight and can go up to a height of 5.5 m.
Animal operated implements
Animal drawn improved wing plough:
It is light weight
(8 kg) tillage equipment which is suitable for shallow puddling
as well as ploughing for dry tillage up to 100 mm depth. The
unit price is Rs 800. The size of the plough is 200 mm. The
cost of operation is Rs. 1800/ha. The command area of the
equipment is 1.5 ha/year.
Animal drawn improved wedge plough:
The hard pan
of soil up to 200 mm depth can be ploughed using improved
wedge plough. The weight of plough is 10.7 kg. The size of
the equipment, unit price and cost of operation are 230 mm,
Rs 1000 and Rs 1650/ha. It provides higher work rate (250
sq.m/h). It can be used in ploughing of dry tillage as well as
for puddling operation in rice terraces. The command area of
the equipment is1.5 ha/year.
Animal drawn improved helical blade puddler:
For
puddling operation in rice terraces, improved helical blade
puddler (size : 630 mm, weight : 19.6 kg and unit price : Rs
4000) can be operated by farmers for fine seedbed prepara-
tion. It provides work rate of 880 sq.m/ha and cost of operation
of Rs 500/ha. The annual command area of the equipment is
2 ha.
Animal drawn improved peg type puddler:
It is light
weight puddling equipment (weight : 14 kg, unit price : Rs
3500) which enables better churning of soil in puddling op-
eration. The overall dimensions of peg type puddler are
700x785x953 mm. The effective field capacity of pudller is
940 sq.m/h and cost of operation is Rs. 415/ha. The command
area of the unit seedbed preparation is 2 ha/year in terraces.
Due to smaller diameter of rotor (size 200 mm) the puddling
performance index is higher (0.62) due to more number of
rotation causing better churning of the soil.
Animal drawn improved clod crusher-leveler-planker- puddler:
It is animal drawn equipment (size : 750 mm,
weight : 18.5 kg, unit price : Rs. 4500) which can perform
four operations (breaking of clods, leveling, planking and
puddling). Three ground wheels are provided for transporting
on approach roads. It shows higher work rate (700 sq.m/h).
The cost of operation of equipment is Rs 620/ha and the
command area of equipment is 2 ha/year.
Animal drawn multi-purpose tool frame:
It is animal
driven equipment with attachment for different unit operations
in major crops (including maize) except rice. The attachments
for tillage, interculture, sowing and ridge making can be
attached on the main frame of the tool frame.
The overall
dimensions of tool frame are 730x700x960 mm and its weight
is 19.8 kg. The unit cost of equipment with attachments is Rs
8500/-. The work rate of tool frame with seeding attachment
for maize is 700 sq.m/h. The cost of operation for maize
sowing comes out approximate Rs 630/ha. The command area
of tool frame is 2 ha/annum.
Three row seed-cum-fertilizer drill :
It is an animal drawn
simple, lightweight and compact machine to sow crops like
wheat, gram, sorghum, soybean, lentil, pea, etc. and drill
fertilizer in soil. It consists of tubular steel section frame on
which various components are mounted. The row spacing of
the seed drill can be adjusted as per the requirement of the
crop being sown. The field capacity of the equipment is 0.10-
0.15 ha/h and it costs Rs 9,000.
Animal drawn multi-crop planter:
An animal drawn 3-
row multi-crop planter is for planting of bold and small seeds.
The planter consists of a frame with tool bar, modular seed
boxes; furrow openers and ground wheel. The planter is also
suitable for sowing of inter-crops as different seeds can be
filled in different boxes.
The cost of 3-row planter is Rs
6,000. The cost of operation of the implement is Rs 270-360/
ha as compared to Rs 550/ha with traditional method.
Power tiller operated equipment
Bench terracer-cum-leveller for hilly region:
A power
tiller operated bench terrace-cum-leveller of 1.0 m width has
capacity of 0.12 ha/h. The maximum volume of soil handled
at a time by the terracer is 0.6 m
3 .
Air assisted seed drill:
The machine consists of an air
blower, distributor head, seed pipe, seed hopper with fluted
roller seed metering mechanism, lifting arrangement, seed cut-
off clutch, tool bar, hoe type furrow openers and seating
arrangement. The spacing between the rows can be adjusted
from 300 mm for 4 rows to 600 mm for 2 rows. The machine
covers 0.25 ha/h. The cost of operation with this machine is
Rs. 750/ha as against Rs. 1200/ha for conventional method
(seed drop behind country plough). There is a saving of Rs.
450/ha.
Power tiller operated manure spreader:
The unit consisted of main frame, manure tub, conveying mechanism,
spreading mechanism and adjustable rear aperture. Quantity of
manure spread is controlled by an adjustable flap at the rear
of the manure tube.
The field capacity of the manure spreader
is 0.9 ha/h and cost of operation is Rs 91/ha. The savings in
cost and time of operation are 85% and 94% as compared to
manual method of manure spreading. Width of coverage is 6 m.
Sweep cultivator:
It is a matching equipment for 6-8 hp
size power tiller to perform interculture operation in soybean,
sorghum, bengal gram and other wide spaced crops. It con-
sists of main frame with hitch system, handle, drive wheel,
tines and sweeps. Effective field capacity of equipment is 0.22
ha/h and unit price is Rs 8000.
Self-propelled equipment
Walking type 4 row paddy transplanter :
The four row
walk behind type rice transplanter is equipped with 3.7 kW
petrol engine which uses mat type nursery and transplants the
seedlings uniformly in puddle condition.
The effective field
capacity and field efficiency are 0.10 ha/h and 65%, respec-
tively. The cost of equipment is Rs. 2.50 lakh.
To be continued....
* Yumnam Jakender, RK Tiwari, SK Chauhan wrote this article for The Sangai Express
Y Jakender is the Head, Dept of Agri Engg, College of Agriculture (CAU), Imphal. RK Tiwari is the Ex. Research Engineer, CAEPHT (CAU), Ranipool, Sikkim and SK Chauhan is the Asst Prof, CAEPHT, Ranipool, Sikkim)
This article was posted on October 01 2016.
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